Salman Rushdie, 75, is being nursed to health by secret girlfriend Rachel Eliza Griffiths, 43
CHAUTAUQUA, NEW YORK: Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed up to 15 times by Hadi Matar on August 12, was recently reported to be doing fine and cracking jokes after he was taken off the ventilator. ‘The Satanic Verses’ author has apparently got someone close to him who is nursing him back to health after the crazed attack.
According to The Daily Mail, it is poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths who is taking care of the 75-year-old writer. The publication revealed that the poet, who is 32 years junior to the acclaimed author, spent 18 days with him at Civitella Ranieri Castle in Umbria last month. Salman Rushdie had declined the security offer given by Dana Prescott, the one who organized the writer’s retreat. Interestingly, there have been rumors of Salman Rushdie quietly dating Rachel Eliza Griffiths since 2017.
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Is Salman Rushdie secretly dating Rachel Eliza Griffiths?
Salman Rushdie, who was earlier married to Padma Lakshmi, might be in a secret relationship with poet, photographer, and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Though it is not clear when Rushdie and Griffiths first met, the two were papped together at events in 2017. The skilled writer was also spotted by Rushdie’s side when he celebrated his 72 birthday in London in June 2019.
Rushdie and Griffiths, according to the Daily Mail, also made public appearances at literary gatherings in New York and London earlier this year. Griffiths even took Rushdie’s official “picture” for Penguin Books. In 2012, Griffiths’ ‘Mule & Pear’ was recognized as the best poetry anthology of the year by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. She has been dubbed as a “multimedia artist, poet, and author.”
Griffiths also seems to be close to Rushdie’s family. She earlier poured in birthday wishes for his younger sister Sameen on social media. Shedding light on the duo’s relationship, a source told The Daily Mail, “Rachel is beautiful and talented and it is no wonder Salman is besotted by her” adding, “But she clearly wants to be recognised as an artist in her own right. She and Salman have been photographed together over the years.”
The source concluded, “She has never spoken publicly about their relationship and nor has he. But it is an open secret that they are together." Griffiths had also cryptically thanked Rushdie when she published her first book of poems and photographs in 2020, called ‘Seeing The Body’. She wrote “My beautiful and extraordinary love, S.” The duo may have also purchased a home together in Delaware earlier this year.
Who is Rachel Eliza Griffiths?
Rachel Eliza Griffiths is a 43-year-old poet, photographer, visual artist, and novelist who lives in New York City. She is widely known for her literary portraits, fine art photography, and lyric videos. Griffiths penned ‘Miracle Arrhythmia’ in 2010, ‘The Requited Distance’ in 2011, ‘Mule & Pear’ in 2011, ‘Lighting the Shadow’ in 2015, and ‘Seeing the Body’ in 2020.
Her literary and visual work has been widely published in journals, magazines, anthologies, and periodicals including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The New York Times, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Progressive, The Georgia Review, and Gulf Coast.